Surfin’ Hawaii Without Breakin’ the Bank

For weeks before our Hawaii trip, J was excited to learn to surf. I honestly think he would be thrilled to just spend the entire vacation on the same stretch of beach, and eat nothing but peanut butter sandwiches and surf. He’s been doing some sightseeing aswell, but I think it’s only for my benefit.

The day after we arrived, we went to a local surf shop and bought a used board for $225. Considering that the new ones were in the $600 – $1200 range, this was quite a steal. J is very focused when he wants to learn something, so I had no doubt that he’d learn to surf quickly. Sure enough, the first day that we found good waves, he was standing up on the board within an hour. Since then, I think he’s been surfing 6 of the last 7 days. It’s pouring rain right now, and he’s out there, probably has the beach to himself.

Until yesterday, he had been wearing his regular swimtrunks to surf. But whenever a wave would wash over him, his trunks would ride up to his hips, and he was getting surfboard burn on his legs. I guess there’s a purpose to boardshorts besides making guys look good at the beach! So yesterday, we went to a local surf shop to look at board shorts. The ones we saw ranged from $62 to $75. Then we remembered that we had noticed a Salvation Army thrift store the day before. Since this is a costal Hawaii town, we thought we’d check to see if they had any board shorts. Sure enough, they had a whole rack full. J found a pair of Billabongs and a pair of Oakleys. Total price: $5. We washed them last night, and he’s out surfing – in the rain – in his sweet new Billabong board shorts.

So J has been having a great time surfing (and doing all sorts of other Hawaiian stuff with me the rest of the time) and it’s only cost us $230. Not bad, considering how many hours of fun he’s had. The used board and shorts work just as well as new ones, and this way we can just have fun on our vacation, and not have to worry about going into debt to pay for it.